Scrapers



July 29, 1969 T. A. RATKOWSKI 3,457,998

SCHAPERS Filed Sept. 22, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l o :new

July 29, 1969 T. m1-@Wsw 3,457,999

SCRAPERS 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Sept. 22, 1965 5g www@ www x Morne@ UnitedStates Patent O 3,457,998 SCRAPERS Thomas A. Ratkowski, Chicago Heights,Ill., asslgnor to Abex Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation ofDelaware Filed Sept. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 489,275 Int. Cl. E02f 3/60 U.S.Cl. 172-265 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A scraper. including amain body and a harness secured thereto, wherein the harness may beadjustably secured to the main body to vary the digging angles thereof.

This invention relates to a slushing scraper and more particularly to aslushing scraper commonly operated by a line.

Slushing scrapers are employed to handle a Wide range of materials suchas ore, coal and earth under severeoperating conditions as found inexcavating, mining, construction, and grading, either above ground orbelow ground. Thus, the nature of material moved by the scraper variesconsiderably from mine to mine or from excavation to excavation as doesthe environment in which the scraper is used.

The scraper is connected to a line and pulled in one direction acrossthe body of ore or the like with the lower blade portion of the scraperscooping material into the interior of the scraper and the scraperriding across the load after having been filled. The scraper is returnedto digging location by a return line connected to the rear of thescraper.

The conventional scraper has a main body portion with a bottom diggingblade and a back wall leading to generally short side walls forming abucket-like cavity in which is gathered the material. Secured to themain body are yoke arms, sometimes called a harness, which extendforwardly from the main body and are joined together at a forwardlocation. The in-haul cable is usually attached either to a forwardpoint on the yoke or to the main body of the scraper. The yoke arms arerigidly secured to the main body at a fixed angle. When the cable ispulled, the yoke assumes the plane of the cable and the main body tiltsto a digging angle of approximately 44 to 50 degrees to dig into theload to fill the scraper.

With the prior art scrapers, the orientation of the yoke to the mainbody was lixed and the relationship of the scraper to the in-haul cablewas fixed. These iixed relationships have imposed limitations inobtaining the correct digging angle for various operating conditions andthereby has limited eicient performance. Accordingly, an object of thepresent invention is to eliminate the foregoing limitations byconstructing a variable pitch type of scraper which can be adjusted toafford dilferent digging angles for ditferent operating conditions.

Another object of the invention is to secure a scraper yoke in one of aplurality of positions relative to the main scraper body to change theorientation of the yoke to the main body, enabling a more eiiicientscraping operation to be realized.

A further object of the invention is to be able to change theinclination of the main body portion of a scraper to its attachedin-haul line to achieve an etiicient digging angle for the scraper.

Another object of the invention is to guide the cable at spaced forwardand rearward locations on the scraper in the general plane of the yokeso that adjustments in position of the main body relative to yoke resultin adrice justments of the scraper blade angle relative to the in-haulcable.

A further object of the invention is a new and improved scraper of anovel construction including a straight transverse scraper blade portionand rounded or crescent back wall portion.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent fromthe following description and claims and are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings which, by way of illustration, shows preferredembodiments of the present invention and the principles thereof and whatis now considered to be the best mode contemplated for applying theseprinciples. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same orequivalent principles may be used and structural changes may be made asdesired by those skilled in the art without departing from the presentinvention and the purview of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. l is a plan view of a scraper constructed in accordance with thepreferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view of the scraper of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates another embodiment of the invention wherein a cableis attached to a central brace member;

FIG. 4 is a plan View of the cable attachment to the central bracemember of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is another embodiment of the invention wherein yoke arms areseparate from one another and are joined by a bushing;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 5 showingthe bushing; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 5 and in thedirection of the arrows showing the bushing, yoke arms and shoe.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIG. l, there isillustrated a scraper bucket 10 including a main body portion 11 with ayoke 12 extending forwardly from the main body portion 11 to a yoke heador forward portion 14 through which is guided a line or cable 15, whichis secured to the main body portion 11 by a pin 16.

The main body portion 11 of the scraper 10 is a casting of manganesesteel or the like having a curved back wall 18 of a generally crescentshape extending between opposite integral side walls 19. The main bodyportion 18 also includes an integral and downwardly inclined lip portionor bottom wall 20, FIG. 2, to which is secured separable teeth 22 and23. Also, integrally formed with the back wall 18 is an overhead or topwall 25, which extends forwardly and over the cavity formed between therespective side walls 19 and back wall 18.

When the scraper 10 is being moved in the in-hall direction by a forcepulling on the cable 15, the scraper 10 assumes a digging angle A (FIG.2, solid lines) so that the front blade portion 22 and 23 dig into theload and scoop the material rearwardly along the inclined wall portion20 toward the crescent shape back wall 18. As the blades 22 and 23 digdeeper into the load and as the scraper cavity becomes lilled, thematerial iills the scraper cavity and presses against the under surface28, FIG. 2, of the top wall 25 to exert a lifting force on the scraper10 preventing the digging of the scraper blades 22 and 23 deeper intothe load. Thus, the scraper 10 rides the load when the scraper cavity isfull and the scraper 10 is being pulled across the load.

The slushing scraper 10 is employed under a wide variety of operatingenvironments for handling a number of different types of material ofvarious sizes. Typical uses for Scrapers are excavating, mining,construction, and grading. Also the type and size of the material beingtransported vary considerably. Heretofore, scrapers have had the yokessecured to the main body portions so that only one angular relationshipor pitch existed between the yoke and the main body portion. These priorart scrapers had only a single digging angle (i.e., angle of the scraperblade to the load during the insertion of the scraper blade into theload). The efficiency of the scraper was limited, particularly where asingle scraper would be used for a number of different operatingenvironments, in that the particular digging angle for the greatestefficiency for a given operating environment was not always available.

An important aspect of the present invention is the provision of avariable pitch or angular relationship between the yoke 12 and the mainbody portion 11 and an adjustable digging angle so that the diggingangle may be adjusted to the particular need of the operatingconditions. For this purpose, the yoke 12 includes a pair of yoke armsand 31, which are pivotally secured by pivot pins 32 to the side walls19 of the main bodyportion 11. It is preferred to hold the yoke 12 ateach of its fixed angular positions relative to the main scraper body 11by means of a central brace 35. The brace 35 has an apertured end 37,FIG. 1, secured to the yoke 12 by a pin 36 and is secured to the mainbody portion 11 by a securing means 38 including a pin 39 insertedbetween the bifurcated arms 40 and 41 of the central brace 35.

The digging angle A, FIG. 2, is adapted to be adjusted between a numberof positions, which are generally indicated by the dotted line positionsof the digging blade 22 in FIG. 2. The digging angle A of FIG. 2 is thatangle between the digging blade 22 and the horizontal plane PL which isthe plane of the load. Manifestly, the plane PL of the load is ofteninclined to the horizontal for such piles, excavations and the like.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. l, the yoke 12 isa one-piece structure with the arms 30 and 31 integrally united to eachother and to the head portion 14 of the yoke 12. The head portion 14 ofthe yoke 12 includes a central and cylindrical body 45 having a centralbore, FIG. 2, through which extends the cable 15. The cylindrical bodyreceives a cable guide bushing 46, FIG. 2, which is an integral portionof a front shoe 48.

Extending outwardly from the cylindrical body 45 and secured on oppositesides thereof are wing-like walls 49 and 50 which are reinforced byvertical cast stiffener ribs 51, 52, 53 and 54, respectively. A pair ofrearwardly extending lugs 57 and 58, FIG. 1, are formed at the rearportion of the yoke head 14 and are apertured to receive the retainingpin 36, which is inserted through apertures in the lugs 57 and 58 and anaperture in the forward end 60 of the center brace 35. The pin 36 has anenlarged head 36A and a washer 36B held by a cotter key 36C in lieu of abolt, which is often difficult to remove.

Likewise, in lieu of a bolt, the shoe 48 is secured to the yoke head 14by means of a tapered wedge 62, which extends through a keyway slot 66formed in the lower wall of the cylindrical body 45, FIG. 2. The taperedwedge 62 has a large head portion 63 tapering into a bendable arm 64,bent over, FIG. 1, to hold the wedge 62 against displacement in a wellknown manner. As best seen in FIG. 2, the wedge 62 fits within theshouldered keyway slot 66 formed in the lower portion of the forwardcylindrical wall 45 and in an opposed matching keyway slot 67 formed bythe lower portion of the circular wall 70 of the shoe 48.

The shoe 48 is a separable casting with its cable guide bushing 46 splitinto spaced portions 71 and 72. When removing the shoe 48, the wedge 62is removed and the shoe 48 is driven leftwardly relative to the yokehead 14, as seen in FIG. 2, to slide its forward guide bushing portion72 into the space 74 and to slide the front cable bushing portion 71leftwardly past an end wall 75 of the yoke head 14. Thus, the shoe 48can be moved downwardly to remove the rear cable guide 71 from theposition in the space 74 in the yoke head 14. Manifestly, a reversal ofthe above operation is made to secure the Shoe 48 to the yoke head 14.

When the scraper 10 is pulled rightwardly, as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2,during a return-haul, the sloping surface 78 on the shoe 48 will beriding along the bottom surface of the trough with the blades 22 and 23riding along their respective rearward surfaces 81.

The in-haul cable 15 is threaded through the flared surface 82 of theforward cable guide bushing portion 71 of the shoe 48 and through therearward bushing portion 72 and beneath the connecting pin 36 in centralbrace 35. The cable 15 has a connector 83 at its end secured by the pin16 to bifurcated arms 85 and 86 integrally formed on the upper plate 25of the scraper body 11.

For the purpose of connecting the central brace 35 to the main scraperbody 11, the bifurcated arms 40 and 41 of the central brace 35 havealigned apertures 88 for receiving the connecting pin 39, which is alsodisposed through one of a pair of openings 92 and 93 in an insert 94,FIG. 2, in the integrally cast lug on the upper body plate 25. To alignthe pin 39 with one of the holes 92 or 93 in the insert 94, the yokearms 30 and 31 are pivoted about their pivot pins 32 in the clockwise orcounterclockwise direction. The insert 94 is sector-shaped and is seatedin a complementary shaped seat 95 in the lug 90.

Preferably, the insert 94 has its pin-receiving holes 92 and 93asymmetrically located on the symmetricallyshaped insert 94, such thatthe removal and reversal of the insert 94 causes the realignment of theholes 92 and 93 therein from the positions previously occupied. Thus,each of the holes 92 and 93 is adapted to have two distinct positions orlocations such that when the pin 39 is inserted therethrough theinclination of the yoke arms 30 and 31 is thereby changed. The use ofthe insert 94 permits the plurality of close-spaced pin locations with athicker insert wall between the holes 92 and 93 than could be affordedby drilling four separate holes slightly offset from one another. Thus,the insert 94 provides a plurality of positive pin-receiving locationsin a relatively small space.

Another important aspect of the present invention is the geometricalshape or configuration of the main scraper body 11. As can be understoodfrom FIGS. 1 and 2, the scraper blades or teeth 22 and 23 have frontedges 100 and 101, which extend in a straight line, as seen in FIG. 1,While the inner surface 102 of the back wall 18 is curved in a crescentor concave curvature. The crescent curvature of the back wall 18 is moreeffective than the conventional straight, back wall of the prior artScrapers in holding material between the side walls 18 and 19 and withinthe scraper 10 as the scraper is being pulled along by the in-haul cable15.

The straight digging edge formed by the front edges Vand 101 of thescraper blades 22 and 23 being aligned in the same plane has theadvantage of preventing the digging in of the corner blades 22 ascontrasted to Scrapers having a curved digging blade. That is, where theangle of the pulling cable was not held constant, any lifting orlowering of the yoke arms tilted the curved, prior art, scraper bladeand cause the curved blade to dig into the load permitting the load toslip out of the scraper at the center thereof.

Thus, the present scraper 10 has a straight digging blade to preventsuch digging in at a corner and has a crescent or curve shape to backwall 18 to afford a greater capacity and a better holding of thematerial before and within the scraper 10.

After the scraper 10 has been moved by the in-haul cable in the forwarddirection to transport the material, the scraper is returned by returncables (not shown) secured to one or more of the integrally formed lugs110, 11 and 112, which are apertured for receiving a shackle connectionto the return-haul cable or cables. The lugs 110, 111 and 112 are spacedalong the back wall 18 to afford a balance pulling during the return ofthe scraper 10.

In the embodiment of the invention described hereinbefore in conjunctionwith FIGS. 1 and 2, the in-haul cable 15 is secured by the pin 16 to thebifurcated lugs 85 and 86 inwardly formed on the top plate 25 of thescraper body 11. However, in another embodiment of the invention, thecable 15 is attached directly to the center brace 35 by a pin 16A, FIGS.3 and 4. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the cable 15 isguided through a bushing 46 and the yoke head 14 and beneath the pin 36to the pin 16A secured to the bifurcated arms 40 and 41 of the centralbrace 35.

The yoke 12, or harness as it is sometimes called, acts as a bumper toguide the scraper about corners or obstruction points and is generallyat least as wide as the distance between side scraper walls 19. In manylocations, such as underground mines, the use of a one-piece yoke,renders the handling, installation and assembly of the scraper di'cultand it is preferred to employ a two-piece yoke. A two-piece yoke 12.0 isillustrated in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, and includes a pair of yoke arms 121and 122 secured to one another by a combined bushing andfastener 125,FIG. 6. The yoke arms 121 and 133 each terminate in a pair ofinterlitting lugs or projections 126 and .127, respectively. Each of theintertting lugs 126 has a central aperture 130 sized to accept thecylindrical body 132 of the combined bushing and fastener 125, FIG. 6.As shown in FIG. 6, the cylindrical body 132 has a flanged outer head134 adapted for ush engagement with an upstanding wall 135 of a shoe136. The opposite end of the combined bushing and fastener 125 has athreaded end portion 138 on which is threaded a fastener 139. Thefastener 139 bears against another upstanding wall 140 of the shoe 136.

The shoe 136 includes a lower depending portion 145 with an inclinedriding face 146 adapted to ride along the loadl during the return-haulof the scraper 10. As best seen in cross section in FIG. 7, the body 145of the shoe 136 has a transverse wall 148 disposed to engage vertical,scraper arm flange 149 and to engage opposed fingers 126 and 127 of thescraper arms 121 and 122.

Each of the yoke arms 122 and 121 has a boss 150` which is apertured at151 to receive the pin 36 for attaching a center brace 35. Therespective arms 121 and 122 are Ialsovprovided with flange or wingportions 154 which on the other side thereof have reinforcing ribs 155extending at right angles thereto. A V-shaped, central reinforcing bodyange 157 is provided on each yoke arm 121 and 122 with vertical surfaces158 meeting along a central meeting line when the yoke arms 121 and 122are joined by the bushing 125.

The respective pins 16, 16A, 32 and 39 each have an enlarged head and anaperture at the thermal end for receiving a cotter key or the likerather than having threaded ends for nuts which may become loosened andthen allow the surfaces of the joined areas to be worn. Also, theremoval of the nuts is often extremely diflicult because of threadclogging and damage to the threads thereby necessitating cutting orburning off of the bolts and nuts. Thus, it is preferred that thethreaded bolts be eliminated although the present invention is notlimited to any particular pin or bolt fastener.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the present invention affords auniversal scraper which is adjustable to provide efficient digging anglefrom a plurality of digging angles lo which the scraper may be adjusted.Preferably, adjustment of the digging angle is accomplished by changingthe angular relationship of the bail with respect to the main scraperbody. Preferably, the arms and body are locked in the preferred diggingangle against angular movement. Also the cable is guided through theyoke arms and attached at a rearward location either to the body or theyoke so as to establish a pulling force or line through the yoke aboutwhich the body portion may be pivoted to change the digging angle.

Hence, while preferred embodiments of the invention have been describedand illustrated, it is to be understood that they are capable ofvariation and modification.

I claim:

1. In a scraper adapted to be attached to a digging cable, a main bodymeans including blade means at the lower portion of said main body meansfor scooping material, bottom, top and side walls on said main bodymeans defining a central material receiving cavity, yoke arm meanssecured to said main body means and extending above said digging blademeans and forwardly thereof, means pivotally mounting said yoke armmeans on said main body means, yoke head means at the forward portion ofsaid yoke arm means, bushing means in said yoke head means for receivingand guiding said digging cable, central brace means extending betweensaid yoke head means and said main body means and having an aperturetherein, means on said main body means for attaching said cable thereto,securing means on said main body means having a plurality of aperturestherein for alignment with the aperture on said central brace means, andpin means disposed through an aperture on said securing means on saidmain body means and the aperture in said central brace means to locksaid arm means in one of a plurality of positions relative to said mainbody means.

2. The scraper of claim 1 wherein said securing means includes an inserthaving a plurality of apertures therein, said insert means adapted to beturned and re-oriented in a cavity in said main body means to re-alignits apertures with respect to said main body means.

3. The scraper of claim 1 wherein said arm means includes a pair ofseparate yoke arms secured together at said yoke head means.

4. The scraper of claim 3 wherein said separate yoke arms are securedtogether by a combined bushing and securing means.

5. In a scraper adapted to be attached to a digging cable, a main bodymeans including blade means at the lower portion of said main body meansfor scooping material into a central cavity in said main body means,separate yoke arm means secured to said main body means and extendingabove said digging blade and forwardly thereof, means pivotally mountingeach of said yoke arm means on said main body means, intertting fingerportions on the forward portions of each of said yoke arm means,cornbined bushing and securing means securing said intertting ngerportions together to form a yoke head of said intertting fingerportions, said combined bushing and securing means having a hollow borefor guiding said cable, means on said main body means for securing saidcable thereto, and securing means on said main body means for securingsaid arm means in a plurality of angular positions relative to said mainbody means.

6. In a scraper adapted to be attached to a digging cable, a main bodymeans including blade means at the lower portion of said main body meansfor scooping material into a central cavity formed in said main bodymeans, yoke arm means secured to Said main body means and extendingabove said digging blade and forwardly thereof, means pivotally mountingsaid yoke arm means on said main body means, yoke head means at theforward portion of said yoke arm means, bushing means in said yoke headmeans for receiving and guiding said digging cable, a center brace meansextending between said yoke head means and an upper wall of said mainbody means, means on said main body means for attaching said cablethereto, securing means on said main body means to lock said arm meansin one of a plurality of positions relative to said main body means; anda shoe means secured to said yoke arm and having a central bore throughwhich passes the digging cable.

7. A scrapper as dened in claim 6, wherein said main body means includesa rear wall and short side walls, said rearwall having its interiorsurface of a concave curvature transversely between said side walls, and

7 8 said blade means including a digging edge extending in 3,076,2752/1963 Boothe 37-118 a substantially straight line between said shortside walls. 3,352,038 11/ 1967 Kalve n- 37-135 References Cited FOREIGNPATENTS 471,535 2/1951 Canada.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Lawton 37-147 ABRAHAM G. STONE, Primary Examiner"3771514 RONALD C. HARRINGTON, Assistant Examiner Henderson et al.37-147 whisler 37-147 10 37 135 US' C1 X'R' Prezybylski 37-141

